The  Special  Difficulties  of 
Christian  Work  Among  the  Mormons 

and  How  They  May  be  Overcome 


By  Rev.  John  D.  Nutting, 

Secretary  Utah  Gospel  Mission,  Cleveland,  0. 


Even  friends  who  are  unusually  well  posted  about 
Mormonism  sometimes  ask,  “Why  is  it  that  we  can- 
not reach  the  Mormon  people  more  largely  with  our 
church  and  school  work?”  The  following  facts  among 
many  may  help  to  answer  this  exceedingly  important 
question,  as  well  as  to  convey  some  idea  of  what  Mor- 
monism really  is. 

First  it  should  be  remembered  that  Christian  work 
among  the  Mormons  has  to  meet  all  the  difficulties 
which  are  found  elsewhere.  The  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil  in  their  usual  forms  are  quite  as  much  in  evi- 
dence there  as  anywhere  else,  and  quite  as  hard  to  meet. 
But  besides  these  there  is  a whole  set  of  difficulties  pe- 
culiar to  this  particular  field,  which  we  must  study  and 
overcome  before  we  can  ever  “solve  the  Mormon  prob- 
lem.” Some  of  these  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  natural  prejudice  of  one  system  against  an- 
other, intense  according  to  the  real  or  fancied  antagon- 
ism between  either  the  systems  or  their  adherents,  or 
both.  This  may  be  understood  somewhat  by  the  preju- 
dice between  Catholics  and  Protestants;  though  Mor- 
monism is  vastly  farther  from  Christianity  than  Ro- 
manism is,  and  its  antagonism  will  eventually  be  greater, 
if  it  is  not  so  already. 

2.  The  numbers,  wealth  and  organization  of 
Mormonism  compared  with  Christianity  in  the  same 
regions.  In  Utah  there  are  about  5,300  members  in  all 
the  Christian  churches  together,  while  the  Mormons 
number  about  220,000  in  that  State;  we  are  not  organ- 


— 2 — 


ized  so  as  to  work  at  all  closely  together,  and  have 
small  financial  ability,  while  they  have  practically  un- 
limited resources  of  both  tithing  and  power  over  their 
adherents. 

3.  The  Mormon  “priesthood.”  Mormonism  is  prob- 
ably the  most  complete  ecclesiastical  system  ever  set  in 
operation,  not  excepting  Jesuitry.  Because  the  priest- 
hood claims  to  be  “a  part  of  God,”  and  is  believed  to  be 
such  by  all  good  Mormons,  it  is  able  to  make  effective 
an  antagonism  to  the  Christian  church  and  faith  which 
is  equal  to  its  own  departure  therefrom;  and  this  is 
almost  complete.  It  has  one  or  more  resident  represen- 
tatives on  every  block  of  a city  or  village,  whose  duty  it 
is  to  visit  every  family  at  frequent  intervals  and  if  pos- 
sible to  keep  them  under  its  control  in  every  department 
of  life;  for,  as  it  claims,  its  “jurisdiction  extends  over 
all  things  spiritual  or  temporal.”  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
such  a power,  with  such  an  inquisitorial  knowledge  of 
the  affairs  of  its  people,  can  of  itself  almost  entirely 
prevent  them  from  even  attending  our  services.  Its 
usual  manner  of  doing  this  seems  to  be  not  so  much  by 
direct  prohibition,  which  might  provoke  rebellion,  as  by 
a seeming  liberality  which  is  more  than  neutralized  by 
certain  teachings  which  we  must  now  consider. 

4.  Systematic,  priestly  slanders  against  the 
Church  of  Christ  and  her  ministry.  Every  Mormon 
is  intensely  indoctrinated  with  the  following  ideas: 

(a)  That  the  Christian  churches  are  not  really 
churches  at  all,  but  base  impositions  designed  by  men 
for  selfish  gain ; the  true  church  and  gospel  having  been 
taken  back  to  heaven  shortly  after  the  death  of  the  Apos- 
tle John,  and  only  restored  to  the  earth  through  Jos. 
Smith  about  1830.  (Some  such  teaching  at  this  was 
necessary  to  make  room  for  the  Smith  “church”  which 
he  wished  to  found.) 

( b ) That  the  Christian  ministry  is  “a  spurious 
priesthood,  destitute  of  divine  authority,  divine  inspira- 
tion and  divine  power  * * * set  up  by  ambitious 
and  designing  men  * * * base  counterfeit  of  the  1 


— 3— 


true  and  heavenly  coin” — [which  is  the  Mormon 
“elder!”]. — Mormon  Doctrine,  p.  21. 

( c ) That  the  Christian  work  done  among  them  by 
this  spurious  ministry  is  for  two  selfish  ends:  (1)  To 

build  up  a sect  which  shall  bye-and-bye  overthrow 
theirs — a motive  both  selfish  and  antagonistic,  which 
they  will  of  course  not  willingly  aid.  (2)  To  get  “the 
money  there  is  in  it”  for  the  worker  (his  salary)  — 
another  selfish  motive.  If  the  pastor  claims  to  be  work- 
ing from  spiritual  motives,  as  of  course  every  true  pastor 
is,  that  makes  him  a lying  hypocrite  and  so  much  the 
worse. 

Such  teachings  are  unceasingly  dinned  into  the  ears 
of  the  people  through  their  “church”  paper,  their  ser- 
vices, in  their  text-books  and  in  conversation.  The  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  remarks  of  “elders”  in  a service  in 
the  Salt  Lake  Tabernacle,  from  the  Mormon  paper  of 
Dec.  18,  1902,  will  illustrate  this  point:  A Colorado 
woman  having  asked  the  “elder”  to  give  a local  pastor 
some  instructions  in  doing  his  church  work  (!)  he  re- 
ports the  conversation  further  as  follows : 

“X  remarked  to  her  that  I would  willingly  do  so,  but  that  I was 
afraid  he  could  not  live  up  to  it  or  teach  it  to  his  congregation. 
‘Why?’  she  asked.  My  answer  was,  ‘He  requires  a salary  to 
preach  the  gospel.  Whenever  he  arises  to  preach  to  his  congre- 
gation and  says  that  which  they  do  not  like,  they  say  that  he 
will  have  to  stop  preaching  that  way  or  they  will  stop  his  salary. 
Now,’  said  I,  ‘when  I preach  to  the  people  I do  not  care  whose 
toes  I tread  on;  1 do  not  care  who  I strike;  I teach  the  truth, 
and  no  matter  where  it  hits,  they  cannot  come  to  me  and  say, 
We’ll  stop  your  salary,’  because  I haven’t  any  to  stop.  That’s 
the  difference  between  your  minister  and  me.  ...  I would 
rather  be  a humble  elder  preaching  the  gospel  unto  the  people, 
bearing  the  testimony  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  and  that  Joseph 
Smith  is  a prophet  of  God,  than  to  be  the  greatest  'divine*  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth:” 

The  next  speaker  in  the  same  meeting  said: 

“I  have  a sort  of  indignant  strain  in  my  own  blood 
when  I hear  these  falsehoods  spoken  against  us  by  men  professing 
to  be  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the 
Gentiles  who  live  in  our  midst,  but  I.  do  not  expect  to  see  any 
number  of  them,  however  long  they  have  lived  in  our  midst,  ever 
stand  up  and  be  men  enough  to  deny  to  the  world  the  lies  that 
are  told  about  us.  I do  expect,  though,  that  if  they  go  away 
from  Salt  Lake  City  for  a period  they  will  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  their  brothers  and  lie  with  them.  That  is  the  only  thing  I 
expect  from  them,  especially  from  those  who  wear  the  long  coats 
and  are  professed  ministers  of  the  gospel.  We  might  name  many 
of  them  to  you,  but  you  know  them  as  well  as  I do.  The  Latter- 


— 4 — 


day  Saints,  from  the  beginning  until  now,  have  suffered  from 
the  misrepresentation  of  this  class  of  men,  and  I expect  that 
we  will  suffer  until  Christ  comes  to  reign,  from  just  such  men.” 

Hundreds  of  similar  statements  might  be  quoted  from 
the  same  publication  during  even  these  later  years. 
Was  there  ever  a more  Satanic  plan  to  rob  the  true 
gospel  message  of  its  power  by  blackening  the  charac- 
ters and  motives  of  its  messengers?  If  so,  the  writer 
does  not  recall  it.  At  any  rate  it  is  perfectly,  clear  that 
we  need  not  expect  many  Mormons  to  attend  our 
churches  as  long  as  their  minds  are  filled  with  such 
devilish  falsehoods  as  these.  And  when  one  does  at- 
tend, the  gospel  message  will  usually  be  able  to  reach 
his  mind  only  after  it  has  been  blackened  and  scorched 
and  distorted  by  passing  through  several  mental  strata 
of  these  slanders,  which  were  intended  to  prevent  him 
from  attending  at  all  and  with  which  his  whole  being  is 
permeated.  It  is  simply  idle  to  expect  to  reach  these 
needy  souls  within  any  reasonable  time  by  an  agency, 
unaided,  against  which  they  have  such  an  intense  and  in- 
trained  prejudice. 

5.  The  seclusion  of  the  people.  Largely  as  a re- 
sult of  the  causes  already  noted,  the  Mormon  people  are 
almost  entirely  secluded  from  direct  Christian  influences. 
About  two-thirds  of  their  present  number  were  bom 
into  their  faith  and  have  grown  up  in  an  almost  exclu- 
sively Mormon  atmosphere,  while  the  most  of  the  others 
have  been  so  long  under  such  influences  that  earlier 
teachings  have  become  nearly  obliterated.  In  Utah  and 
Southern  Idaho  alone  there  are  145,000  people,  mostly 
Mormons,  who  have  no  sort  of  Christian  services  in  the 
places  where  they  live;  while  the  almost  equal  number 
who  live  where  they  might  attend  will  not  do  so,  from 
reasons  already  noted.  And,  besides  this,  the  pecu- 
liarities of  Mormon  belief  and  practice  are  such  as  very 
generally  to  render  them  clannish,  and  so  the  more  to 
separate  them  from  better  influences. 

6.  Mormon  changes  in  the  meanings  of  Chris- 
tian words.  Mormonism  changes  the  meaning  of  al- 
most all  the  fundamental  Christian  words  and  of  some 


— 5— 


others,  so  that  they  carry  very  untrue  ideas  to  its  people. 
The  very  Word  of  God  is  thus  robbed  of  its  message  and 
made  to  speak  a false  one,  and  the  Christian  sermon 
may  become  almost  a Mormon  message  before  it  reaches 
the  thought  of  its  Mormon  hearer.  To  them  the  word 
“God”  carries  the  idea  of  one  of  many  polygamous, 
flesh-and-  bones  beings  who  were  once  men;  “Christ,” 
that  of  a son  of  such  a god  (Adam)  and  Mary;  “faith,” 
either  a mere  head-belief  or  a semi-miracu'lous  power; 
“sin,”  only  an  inexpediency;  “repentance,”  regret  at 
such  inexpediency;  “baptism,”  immersion  by  a Mormon 
“elder”  to  wash  away  such  a sin;  “salvation,”  bodily 
resurrection;  “atonement,”  making  such  resurrection 
possible;  and  soon.  The  awful  results  of  such  perversion 
of  terms  can  only  be  imagined  by  one  who  has  had  long 
experience  with  it. 

7.  The  difficulty  of  meeting  Mormon  error  from 
the  pulpit.  The  fundamental  need  of  the  Mormon  is 
not  exhortation  to  do  what  he  already  knows.  He  is 
not  ready  for  much  of  that;  his  ideas  are  so  terribly 
distorted  that  it  means  little  to  him.  His  crucial  need 
is  to  have  the  awful  fallacies  of  his  peculiar  beliefs  laid 
before  him  plainly  and  kindly,  with  the  corresponding 
truths  of  Christianity  in  contrast.  This  is  a work  which 
requires  special  gifts,  training  and  experience,  which  not 
every  pastor  can  command.  And  thus  far  it  has  been 
considered  very  seldom  possible  for  a church  to  take 
up  such  work  without  incurring  a net  result  of  in- 
creased hostility  against  itself,  such  as  has  already  been 
outlined. 

8.  The  very  sincerity  of  the  Mormon  common 
people  in  their  belief.  . After  visiting  in  about  twelve 
hundred  Mormon  homes  and  talking  with  them  about 
their  beliefs,  the  writer  is  convinced  beyond  a doubt  that 
the  common  Mormon  (he  does  not  speak  of  the  leaders) 
is  very  generally  sincere  in  his  belief  of  even  the  most  re- 
pulsive features  of  his  system.  Most  likely  having  been 
born  into  Mormonism,  and  at  any  rate  having  been 
trained  into  it  by  an  assiduity  which  shames  most 


— 6— 


modem  teaching  of  Christianity,  why  should  he  not  be 
so — rather  how  can  he  help  being  so?  And  every  atom 
of  this  sincerity  is  an  atom  of  opposition  to  anything 
which  discredits  either  the  honesty  or  the  contents  of 
his  belief.  We  have  hardly  given  the  Mormon  people 
credit  enough  hitherto  at  this  point,  but  the  fact  is 
fundamental  to  any  proper  understanding  of  the  case. 

9.  The  doctrine  of  "testimony"  and  continuous 
revelation.  It  is  hard  to  deal  with  a system  having  a 
"private  wire”  to  heaven  which  any  one  may  tap  under 
easy  conditions.  Such  supposed  communication  ren- 
ders the  people  altogether  too  independent  of  common- 
place matters  like  the  Bible  and  all  the  every-day  facts 
and  logic  and  common-sense  and  history  and  experience 
which  govern  ordinary  people — and  which  govern  them 
in  other  matters.  Many  a time  have  Mormons  said  to 
the  writer  that  it  made  no  difference  what  he  said  or 
brought  to  their  notice  against  Mormon  errors,  "they 
had  a testimony  from  God  that  Mormonism  was  true 
and  Joseph  Smith  a prophet  sent  from  God,  and  noth- 
ing whatever  could  shake  it”  Every  Mormon  is  taught 
from  childhood  that  by  a proper  course  he  can  and 
should  obtain  this  special  revelation  from  God;  and 
such  is  very  often  his  aim.  By  a psychologic  and  per- 
haps partially  hypnotic  process  of  excluding  contrary 
facts  (if  he  knows  of  such),  concentrating  attention 
upon  falsehoods  taught  as  facts,  and  subjecting 
himself  to  the  influence  of  strong  Mormon  characters, 
multitudes  of  this  people  reach  a genuine  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  one  of  the  most  damnable  frauds  ever  per- 
petrated upon  suffering  humanity;  and  this  constitutes 
one  of  the  most  stubborn  difficulties  with  which  we  have 
to  deal.  It  is  perhaps  at  once  the  climax  of  priestcraft 
everywhere  and  of  Satanic  delusion.  It  is  the  inn^r 
fortification  of  this  great  system  of  error.  It  supplants 
the  Bible  by  later  and  more  pertinent  messages ; it 
makes  the  Mormon  think  and  say  “We  have  all  that  you 
have  and  much  more ; why  should  we  come  to  you  for 
any  truth?”  in  a spirit  of  conceit  and  exclusiveness  re- 


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— 7— 


minding  one  of  the  Chinese.  And  the  “private  wire,” 
instead  of  running  to  heaven  as  it  is  believed  to  do,  is 
the  means  by  which  the  arch  Enemy  himself  lures  these 
blinded  souls  to  their  own  destruction. 

We  have  thus  hastily  sketched  the  greater  special 
difficulties  which  confront  any  who  would  rescue  the 
310,000  Mormons  from  their  crushing  delusion  and  our 
nation  from  the  menace  of  this  evil.  The  Church  of 
Christ  often  finds  it  hard  to  make  headway  against  the 
difficulties  of  other  fields.  Can  it  make  the  needful 
progress  against  the  same  obstacles  here  with  all 
these  new  ones  added?  If  so,  it  will  certainly  be  one 
of  the  greatest  proofs  of  the  power  of  Christianity  ever 
enacted  in  any  age.  That  it  will  finally  do  so,  the  writer 
has  no  doubt.  That  it  wifi  do  so  with  only  the  localized 
methods  of  the  past,  which  were  framed  for  fields  hav- 
ing none  of  these  special  difficulties,  and  to  overcome 
which  every  wile  of  Satan  in  these  new  obstacles  has 
been  particularly  designed,  he  has  practically  no  hope, 
for  at  least  a generation  or  two.  The  figures  show  that 
in  the  twelve  years  from  1890  to  1902  Mormonism  has 
doubled  its  numbers  and  more  than  doubled  its  power, 
in  spite  of  all  we  have  done;  and  we  can  hardly  expect 
greater  effectiveness  of  these  methods  in  future.  - They 
have  accomplished  much,  and  must  be  continued  to  the 
full.  But  if  we  leave  them  unaided  for  another  twelve 
years  we  shall  certainly  awake  to  an  educated  Mormon- 
ism instead  of  an  ignorant  one,  very  probably  doubled 
again  in  numbers  and  power,  holding  absolute  political 
control  of  the  whole  region  from  Canada  to  Mexico  and 
a strong  balance  of  power  in  Congress,  while  the  grip 
of  this  deadly  false  religion  as  a religion  upon  the  souls 
it  now  blinds  is  stronger  than  ever  before;  and  mean- 
while at  least  100,000  Mormons  will  have  passed  on  to 
eternity  without  the  gospel  light  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  send  to  them ! God  has  never  made  a people 
which  could  not  be  reached  with  His  Truth  in  some 
way.  Reaching  even  this  people  is  entirely  possible. 
If  we  fail  to  do  it,  in  this  age  of  unlimited  resources,  it 
seems  to  the  writer  that  we  might  as  well  cease  calling 
ourselves  Christians  and  go  on  unhindered  to  the  final 
en  1 of  the  unfaithful.  From  mere  motives  of  self-pre- 
servation it  were  the  most  foolish  policy  in  the  world  to 
leave  the  Utah  work  without  reinforcements  at  such  a 
critical  time  as  this. 

From  all  the  facts  thus  far  brought  out,  it  is  evident 
that  the  work  which  shall  meet  the  present  need  of  the 


— 8— 


Mormon  people  must  be  a highly  specialized  one,  fitted 
for  the  peculiar  situation  which  confronts  it.  It  can- 
not be  merely  a localized  effort,  because  the  people  will 
not  come  to  such ; nor  a denominational  or  salaried  one, 
for  against  these  they  are  intensely  and  continuously 
prejudiced.  It  must  be  more  than  a match  for  the 
priesthood,  error,  “testimony”  and  Satan  together,  or  it 
will  fall  before  these  enemies.  It  must  be  able  to  reach 
the  whole  people  with  the  gospel  leaven  rapidly.  It 
must  come  to  them  with  evident  self-denial,  on  the  basis 
of  a common  humanity,  gladly  acknowledging  their 
sincerity  and  whatever  else  is  good  among  them  as  a 
basis  of  appeal  for  all  that  is  better  and  best. 

Such  an  effort  is  that  of  the  Utah  Gospel  Mission, 
which  is  incorporated  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Provident- 
ially brought  into  being,  it  is  believed,  out  of  the  high- 
est experience  in  Utah,  fits  methods  thus  far  have  met 
with  unexpected  success  in  coping  with  the  problems 
presented.  Its  workers  are  both  unsectarian  and  un- 
salaried, living  in  and  working  from  special  gospel 
wagons  the  year  round,  and  doing  a peculiar  and  evi- 
dently self-denying  work  along  both  colporter  and 
evangelistic  lines.  Devices  conceived  against  “sectar- 
ian,” localized,  salaried  and  ministerial  work  fall  power- 
less before  methods  which  present  none  of  these  fea- 
tures. Prejudice  is  disarmed  and  even  the  “priesthood” 
largely  shorn  of  its  power  by  methods  which  outwardly 
resemble  its  own  enough  to  logically  compel  a kindly 
reception  of  both  our  men  and  message.  (See  I.  Cor. 
9:15-23.)  The  people  cannot  remain  away  from  a work 
which  goes  to  them,  as  the  early  Apostles  used  to  go  to 
the  people  before  there  was  either  church  or  salary. 
Even  the  Mormon  “testimony”  will  fall  before  facts  re- 
peatedly and  clearly  and  kindly  brought  to  bear  in  self- 
sacrificing  love.  tThe  one  power  stronger  than  priestly 
error  is  that  of  truth  with  God  behind  it;  and  if  this 
truth  be  only  brought  into  kindly  and  wise  touch  with 
the  needy  souls  the  effect  will  be  simply  irresistable. 
Here  is  the  solution  of  the  Mormon  oroblem,  and  the 
salvation  of  the  Mormon  people;  and  the  key  to  it  all, 
under  God,  is  in  these  methods  which  can  and  do  reach 
the  whole  people  with  that  truth  which  the  Spirit  can 
use  mightily. 

Cleveland , March , igoS—  [3rd  Ed. "| 

Published  by  the  Utah  Gospel  Mission,  w Cle- 

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